Read Online The Ruins of Karzelek (The Mandrake Company series Book 4) by Ruby Lionsdrake - Free Book Online Page A

Kalish.
    “ Lieutenant Sniffles,” Striker said. “Got it, sir.” He shared a wink with Tick.
    Sedge sighed.
    A chime came from behind his head. Someone had taken off his jacket and folded it for a pillow. He sat up and pulled it into his lap, waving at the comm-patch. “Lieutenant Thomlin.”
    “ Mandrake,” came the captain’s gruff, terse voice.
    Out of habit, Sedge climbed to his feet, as if the captain could see him. “Yes, sir?”
    “ The Blackwell woman there? We have an assignment or not? Thatcher couldn’t give me an affirmative.”
    Sedge looked toward Kalish and raised his eyebrows. “We’re in her tent, sir. Shall I have Ms. Blackwell contact you?”
    “ Yes, I want to know if we’re hired. And if we’re not hired, I want to know why my shuttles are flying all over that planet, burning fuel.”
    Sedge almost responded that they were searching for cave entrances, but remembered that he had supposedly been unconscious when Kalish had been talking with her mother about that. “Understood, sir.”
    Kalish was watching him. Wondering if he had been awake for longer than he let on? He hoped not. He tugged off the comm-patch and offered it to her. “I left it open if you want to speak with the captain now.”
    Kalish hesitated, then accepted it and walked to the desk. “Mandrake Company? This is Kalish Blackwell.”
    A moment later, Viktor Mandrake’s head and broad shoulders appeared in the air above it, his green eyes hard, his face as stern as usual. Once or twice, Sedge had seen the captain amused, but he usually reserved those glimpses of humanity for the original men who had founded the company with him, most refugees from his destroyed home world. Sedge had only been with the outfit for a year, so he didn’t qualify. He found the captain fair, despite his gruffness, but he did grow wistful from time to time, wondering what it would be like to feel a part of the family.
    “ Good evening, Captain,” Kalish said. “Though my information wasn’t as reliable as I had hoped, your men satisfactorily completed the first stage of this mission.”
    Mandrake grunted. As always, he was a man of many words.
    “ Your shuttles are looking for an entrance to the underground cavern system we need to enter. Once they succeed, we’ll be ready for you to help us with Stage Two.”
    “ Which is?”
    When Kalish had first contacted Mandrake Company, she had hinted of work that would keep the Albatross busy in space while an infiltration team worked on the planet. And she had spoken to her mother of an outright attack . Sedge leaned forward, eager for more details.
    “ We need a one-week distraction. I’m hoping it will be more like a few days, but the caverns are immense, so I don’t want to be overly optimistic.” From the way she grimaced, Kalish might think even one week wouldn’t be enough.
    “ A distraction,” Mandrake said, sounding about as enthused as if she had asked him to grind metal with his teeth.
    “ I want the workers in that compound too pinned down to think about going into the mines to work this week, but I don’t want anyone killed.” Kalish closed her eyes and swallowed. “Anyone else . Still, I need them too busy to send their ships in and definitely too busy to notice us poking around in there. They shouldn’t be able to get help out here from corporate in a week, and maybe you can even knock out their satellite and scramble their long-distance communications so they can’t call for that help.”
    “ You want them to attack the compound?” Tick asked, scratching his head. He and Striker hadn’t left after they had delivered their equipment. They were sitting near the far wall of the tent, enjoying the chairs they had brought in. “The miners are going to want to know why.”
    Kalish shrugged. “Maybe you can threaten them by telling them you want some impossible amount of gold. Or that you want the mines themselves.”
    Mandrake’s eyes narrowed. “We are not thieves,